Quick Update!

Little Ruthie has been tube-free since Friday night!  She has been caffeine-free since Monday morning!  Keep her in your prayers... they are keeping her for observation for a little bit and if everything goes well, she should be home soon!

And Georgie continues to make me smile!  When he sees a picture of Ruthie, he says "RUTHIE!"  (In fact, he's doing it now as I write this!)  He's going to love her!  

Also, he cracks me up and always has a hurt finger or toe that he wants me to kiss.  I'm starting to wonder if they are actually hurt or if he is faking it.  Either way, it's fun to give him a kiss and see him run away "all better!"  Today, he was laying on my lap going, "Aaaaw Baby!"  I just love this little boy and can't wait to get to spend more time with him again!!

We appreciate all of your prayers!  I know that Ruthie is doing better because all of the people who love her  and all of the prayers being given on her behalf!

Baby Update!

Ruthie is now 36 days old.  She is 5 lbs. 9 oz. and 18.7" long!  She has grown over an inch since she was born... and it's all in her long little legs!  Seriously, her legs are super long!  She was wearing some premie jammies and it was supposed to be a one-piece with long pants... but they hit her like capris!

She is now mostly out of premie clothes.  She had a nice little rotation going and then they wouldn't fit over her big head!  She still fits in some premie snap-up things... as long as they don't have long pants.

She is off of her feeding tube!  She takes all of her feedings by breast or bottle... and she is a champ at the bottle... unlike her brother, who could never quite figure out how a bottle works!  She will drink 50 ccs (almost 2 oz) in about 5 minutes!  Last night, for the first time, she finished a bottle and then screamed and cried for more!  She ended up eating 70 ccs!  What a hungry girl!  She will be chubby in no time!

She is getting to be more alert... and that's a lot of fun.  She is also holding her gaze and following with her eyes, which developmentally is what she should be doing at 5 weeks old.  Amazing!  For how early she was, it will truly be amazing if she stayed with her real age instead of an "adjusted" age.

We are trying to give George as much attention as possible right now.  The poor kid just knows that we are hardly ever around, but doesn't know why.  He has yet to meet his little sister!  We show him pictures, but he doesn't get it... he is just excited to see pictures of a baby!  He's running around like a crazy person and jumping off of everything.  He loves Thomas the Tank Engine these days and throws a fit if he's ready to watch it and we don't turn it on.  Grandma got him a toy Thomas that he even takes to bed!  No, it's not a snuggly toy.  He has been spending a lot of time with Grandma and he loves it!  When she leaves his sight he yells, "GRANDMA!  WHERE ARRRREEEE YOU??"  He has even starting picking up some words from her.  My favorite is how he says, "Oh, goodness!  Oh, goodness!"

So, we're still here.  Running back and forth and pumping leaves little time for anything else!

We're Still Here

I realize that the last picture looks much worse than it actually is.  Here's a new picture!  This one is a few days old.  Ruthie now has her feeding tube through her nose (with her smaller cannula) so that she can drink from a bottle easier.  Oh, and how she drinks from a bottle!  She's a champ!  She only gets a few a day but the first one she drank in about 20 minutes (she got the hiccups half-way) and the other, she ate it all in 8 minutes!  That's right--8 minutes!  So she is learning to take a bottle right now, but still getting most of her feedings through the tube because the bottle really tires her out.

She is now 23 days old and 4 lb 11.1 oz.  She's almost a full pound over birth weight!  She is wearing clothes that we took in for her.  I have a few premie things that she rotates through and the rest of the premie stuff I am slowly returning for newborn-sizes.  She's not going to be under 5lbs much longer!  In fact, the chubbier her face gets, the more she looks like George (but a very feminine George)!  She's so sweet and we love her!  They haven't said anything about her coming home... so I suspect we're still a little while from that.  But she's doing really well, so really, as long as she keeps moving forward, it won't have to be too terribly much longer.

Stay tuned!  We'll keep updating!

Surprise!!

This may sound familiar... but we had another surprise arrival in our family!

Ruth Kathleen

9/13/12 at 12:38pm

3lbs, 12 oz  17" 

She has thick, dark hair and she is absolutely beautiful.  We love this little girl!  She is currently in the NICU, but she is making improvements every day!  She will be there for a while longer than George was, but I suspect that it will be mostly to grow in an environment where she can be closely monitored.  We appreciate all of the prayers and fasting that we have received!  We are definitely feeling the calming effects of the Holy Ghost!  And I know that little Ruthie's progress is a direct blessing from those prayers and thoughts.  Keep them coming... she has a little while to go!  I'll update more later.  Right now I'm going to pump and take a nap.  I really forgot how lame it is to pump.  It's so much easier to feed and cuddle a sweet baby... and I can't wait until we can try it in a few weeks!

Big Foot Sighting

It's been a busy month... again.  So I guess this just makes it a busy summer!  I can't believe it's going to be September tomorrow!

I spent almost 2 weeks this month in AZ for my sister's wedding.  I got to hang out with my friend Dom from BYU!  It was so fun to see her!!  It's been too long!  She's having a little boy in December, so we got to talk pregnancy and babies!  We went to my favorite AZ restaurant... and then we went there the next night with Steve's good friend and his wife and daughter.  Yes... I ate at the same restaurant 2 nights in a row.  It was delicious.

I ate Greek food and liked it for the first time.  G loved the appetizer that they lit on fire and yelled, "Opa!"  He would yell, "YAY!!!" and clap his hands!  The drunk (but fun) owner kept coming up and grabbing his face and calling him a beautiful baby!  But we already knew that!  Look at this handsome face riding the helicopter at the mall:

The wedding was great, but it's weird that she's married!  I am a terrible sister because I did not take a single picture that day.... but it was hot.  And Steve and I were chasing G around.  It was a long day for him, but he hung in there like a champ (except he was not too happy at dinner).  He especially loved dancing with all of the nieces and nephews from Mark's side!  He's been a dancing fool ever since!

When we got back, G was so excited to see all of his toys.  He played with each toy as he took them all out of the toy box and made a huge mess.

I had another OB appointment.  I had to take my glucose test.  They gave me fruit punch this time and it was way gross.  I loved the orange drink last time.  Next time, I'll request that one... I saw it in her fridge, but thought I would try something new.  Since we had to be there for an hour, my great doctor decided to do an ultrasound.  It's still a girl (thank goodness... we're accumulating a lot of pink and purple these days)!  And when the doctor measured the leg, he said "Whoa!  Those are some big feet!"  He was so impressed that he printed a picture:

Once again, I have a baby that is measuring big.  At least this time, her abdomen is measuring big, too.  With G, it was always just his head that measured big.  I guess it still is always his head that measures big... it's full of brains!

We got a few good peeks at our little girl's face!  Here's a picture... it looked better on the screen, but she moved just as he was taking the picture.  Her forehead is to the right and chin is to the left.  Isn't she pretty??

So we've just been taking it easy the last week and a half or so.  Erin & Mark stayed here on their long drive back to AZ and eventually back to school.  They stayed all day yesterday!  It was so fun and G loved all the attention!

There you have it.  Our August in a nutshell!

Nesting

(These were my beautiful flowers that I got at the Farmer's Market a few years ago.  They were so pretty until a bird laid eggs in them.  Once the eggs hatched, I didn't have the heart to water my flowers and potentially drown the little birdies.  My flowers died.)

The past few days I have had this panicked feeling about where we are going to put another person in this apartment!  Since G's room is really supposed to be a "den," it's not very big.  The closet is actually a really good size, but it's jam-packed with George stuff!  So, my project over the next few days (to help myself find peace of mind) is to organize G's room... starting with the closet.  Today I went through 2 boxes of baby clothes and got rid of things that were totally stained or faded and pulled out white onesies (pretty much the only gender-neutral clothing we have).  I was really hoping to get rid of a lot of things, but so many of his little clothes are in great shape (and I have sometimes have a bit of a hoarding tendency... "But I can use that someday!" is a phrase that I use frequently).  I have been googling ideas for storing baby clothes.  I am going to go to Target and get some XL Ziploc bags.  If I put the clothes in the Ziplocs and then in the Rubbermaid boxes, I think they will be safe to put in our storage closet (I hope).  Next, we're going to have to clean out our storage closet (Steve's job)!  

So I have some stuff to donate and things to organize... but already I'm feeling a little bit better.  I think I'm nesting so early this time around because I never really got around to it last time.  Seriously.  I was in labor, laying on the couch while my mom and my aunt finished unpacking the nursery and getting things all set up and ready.  So, I want to at least accomplish the things that I need to do before I can get things set up for our baby girl!

(PS--on a sort-of-side-note... last week was a busy busy week for babies!  George got a new little cousin and three of our friends had babies!  That makes FOUR babies in one week!  And one more friend coming this week!  How crazy!  I guess Thanksgiving is a pretty romantic time?)

Videos of Georgie

Steve is always telling me that I need to record more of what G does.  Seriously, though... once I think about it, he's done doing whatever he was doing.  Tonight I got some funny ones!

This one I call, "George Gives Up..."

And these next two are George going absolutely crazy because he's sooo tired, but it's just a little too early for bed.

And yes, he knows what a cow says... he was just mad at me for taking his beloved binky!

A Pain in the Hiney

When I was pregnant with George, an anesthesiologist came to our birthing class to make us feel "more at ease" with the idea of an epidural.  He showed us the needle and how it works.  Well, the needle was waaaaay too big for my liking.  Instead of feeling better about an epidural, I decided that night that I 100% did not want an epidural.

So I had George without an epidural.  Really, it was only unbearable for the last hour before he was born... and then it was such a relief to push.  And my pushing was more effective because I could feel what I was doing, so I only pushed for about 15-20 minutes.  It wasn't too bad of an experience, so I will likely have this baby without an epidural. (But really, if it gets too bad too early, give me the drugs!)

But anyway, this post isn't about epidural or no epidural... it's about needles.  And the joke is on me.  See, about 80% of the reason that I didn't get an epidural was the needle.  I couldn't get that image out of my head.

Well, today, "Project:  Prevent Another Preemie" commenced.  I got my first shot of progesterone to keep this baby girl inside until she's strong enough to be born.  No, I was not in pre-term labor... this is preventative at this point.  But let me show you what it looks like: 

A giant needle in my hiney.  I'm talking a 2" needle all the way down to my muscle (or, you know, whatever I have down there where my muscle should be).  So there should be no way that we have a repeat of this:

No, not the kid--we love the kid.  We don't love the tubes and wires.  And really, he wasn't even as bad as all of the tubes and wires make him look.

So the shot itself didn't hurt as much as I anticipated.  I guess when I have built things up in my head for the last 20 weeks, it can't possibly be as bad as I built it up to be.  I got all sweaty after and had to lay down for about 15 minutes.  It was fine all the way home, but now I have a pain radiating from my butt.  I mean, it really hurts.

But I just need to keep telling myself that this will be cheaper, both financially and emotionally in the end! (No pun intended)

George-isms

This is quite possibly the best picture that we have had of G in a while (or ever).  No binky... he's looking at the camera, and actually somewhat-smiling!  Seriously--this is a rare, rare photo!

G has some new, funny phrases lately:

• "Bless You!"--for sneezes, of course... even his own!
• "I back"--means, "I'll be right back."
• "Thereyougo" and "Hereyougo"--said as if they are all one word.

I can't believe he's growing up so quickly!  He's 19 months old already!!  And our baby girl is due in just 119 days!  

It's a...

It's been busy-busy around here.  Well, not really around here, exactly.  We took a last-minute trip to Utah to visit family, which was way fun.  It was nice to get away and introduce George to some aunts, uncles and cousins that he's never met!

Right before we left, we had an ultrasound!  I'm sure that everyone who reads my blog knows this already.... but it's a girl!  It's funny because I left the ultrasound excited, but very nervous!  I felt the same way when we found out George was a boy... I left thinking, "Awesome!  But I only have sisters!  I've never been around little boys!  What do I even do with a little boy??"  and I left this ultrasound thinking, "Awesome!  But I have a boy!  What do I do with a little girl??"

So we are very excited!  She has been moving a lot lately and it's so fun to feel that again!  We are still deciding on a name.  The problem right now is that our list is too long!  And it keeps getting longer!  While we were in Utah we had a little baby shower already (since I will likely not make it back before she arrives)!  It was so fun and this little girl is going to be the best-dressed baby on the block!

And as of this morning, she has bedding thanks to someone who returned a really cute bedding set to Target!  I love when I find "Online Only" mark-downs!  Seriously... I got this bedding for a steal! (Ignore all the other stuff... the set came with the skirt, bumper, sheet, and quilt).  I saw it yesterday, but I thought, "I need to calm down and not buy everything I see."  Then I told Steve about it and he said "WHAT?? Why didn't you buy that?? Go back tomorrow first thing!"  And I was kicking myself for not buying it all night!  So I woke up early this morning, woke George up, and ran to Target!  Yes, I ended up paying for waking George up!  He was happy for about an hour... and then he had a total melt-down.  It took him a while to calm down, but once he did, he crashed.  So I'm letting him sleep now.  I'm still trying to figure out his sleep schedule.  It's been a little rough.  Also, I'm still trying to figure out what he will eat (other than the kid-friendly staples which are not all that healthy).  Really, I'm just making all of this parenting stuff up as I go.  That's my secret.